No Strings Attached
by Sonny Shotz
Summary: Justin and Heather are together and Heather has never gone ice skating so Justin decides to take her. Falling down, teasing, fluff and happiness. Total Drama never happened.


**A/N: I don't own Total Drama or any of the characters. I also pulled the title out of my ass, I couldn't think of a good title. -_-**

* * *

Heather eyes the scene before her warily and takes another deep breath. Beside her, a suitably wrapped up Hawaiian is grinning and reaching out his hand. Heather takes a step back, wobbling slightly, and grabs onto the partition separating her from what she believes to be her untimely demise. She begins to imagine what the newspaper headlines will say and the image of her parents in matching formal wear, weeping at her graveside, flits into her mind.

"Wait!" she exclaims, causing her boyfriend to roll his eyes.

"Heather, we've been here for almost forty minutes. It's time."

"But…" Heather squeaks, taking another unsteady step backwards.

"Heather, sweetheart, I'm freezing. If I don't start moving soon, I'm going to get hypothermia…"

"And I'm the dramatic one…" Heather mutters under her breath. Justin fixes her with a look.

"Fine," Justin says and takes a step away from Heather, resisting the urge to throw his hands up in the air in frustration, "You can sit at the side like a gigantic baby. I'm going." Justin takes another few steps and then pushes himself away from the side, shooting off across the ice. Heather watches as her boyfriend completes a couple of laps of the outdoor rink.

Justin comes to a halt, spraying up ice as he brakes, and stretches his arms over the barrier towards his still-reluctant girlfriend.

"Please?"

Heather looks away from Justin's pleading eyes and sighs wearily.

"Heather, I've seen you roller skate. This isn't so different…"

"Isn't so different?" Heather turns back to face the grinning male. "Roller-skating does not involve swooshing blades of death!"

"Swooshing blades of death?" Justin snorts, clutching his stomach as he doubles over. "Swooshing…"

"Fine, mock me," Heather folds her arms and narrows her eyes as Justin continues to laugh and loses his balance slightly. The next few seconds appear to slow down as Justin's arm flail and he tumbles backwards, landing with a thud on the ice. Heather leaps to her feet and wobbles over to the barrier. "Justin!" Her expression quickly turns from one of concern to one of annoyance as she watches Justin gasp for air as laughs burst from his mouth.

"I'm sorry, Heather… I'm sorry," the still-laughing Hawaiian says in a placating tone as he pulls himself up off the ice. Heather bites her bottom lip and nods at last, mumbling under her breath. "What was that?"

"Don't let go," Heather repeats, marginally louder than the first time. Justin breaks into another wide smile.

"I promise," he says, holding out his gloved hand to the raven haired girl and skating to the gap in the barrier as Heather takes the three tremulous steps forward, teetering on the edge.

"I'm going to get into a lot of trouble if I break anything… or if I lose fingers…"

"Heather!" Justin says, exasperation creeping back into his voice. "You are not going to break anything. You are no going to lose any fingers. We're going to go around the rink once, okay? I'm going to skate backwards and hold both of your hands. You're not going to fall because I will not let you. Okay?"

"Okay," Heather squeaks, "But what if…"

"No. Get on the ice!" Justin skates even closer to the edge, taking both of Heather's hands. "Ready?"

"Yes. No. Yes…" Heather makes a face and takes another deep breath. "Yes."

"Okay, step onto the ice, right foot first. Nice and slowly."

Justin watches as a shaking foot lowers itself onto the ice and Heather visibly exhales.

"Now the other foot…" Heather hesitates, starting to shake her head. "I've got you, Heather. I won't let anything happen to you."

As soon as the raven haired girl has both feet on the ice, Justin starts to skate backwards at a snail's pace and Heather's face contorts to one of complete panic.

"What are you doing?" she exclaims, legs and back tensing up entirely.

"I'm just moving out of the way so that other people can skate," Justin smiles as another couple take to the ice, effortlessly whizzing round hand in hand. "I need you to relax, just a little. The more you tense up, the more likely you are to fall."

"Okay," Heather nods, ignoring Justin's advice and tightening her muscles again.

Justin chuckles.

"What?" Heather asks, eyes darkening quickly.

"I still can't believe you've never been ice-skating. You're twenty."

"My busy extra-curricular schedule as a child didn't leave much free time for flailing around a sheet of ice… between ballet and tap. I think my dad had some sort of unfortunate ice-fishing accident when he was younger. He used to go white and stop talking if we drove past the rink. I asked my mom about it, but she would tell me that it's just one of those things we don't talk about."

"Right," Justin says, nodding slightly, "But we're not ice-fishing. We're in New York, your favorite place in the whole world. You're with me, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Okay," Heather replies in a small voice and leans forward to peck Justin's cheek, "I trust you."

"Good," Justin beams. "Now I'm going to guide you at first, okay? All you have to do is push off on your right foot. That's all." Heather nods and takes another deep breath, putting her weight onto her right leg. Justin starts to move backwards, pulling Heather with him. "Now the left leg."

Heather grins, glancing down at her feet.

"I'm skating!"

"You are," Justin nods. "Want to go a little faster?"

A group of small children pass by; one of them does a double-toe loop.

"Show-off," Heather mutters. "I could do that if we weren't on ice."

"I know, babe," Justin says. "Focus on me, please. Let's go a little faster, okay? Otherwise they'll be closing the rink and we won't have finished a lap." Justin starts to skate a little faster.

"You're showing off too! You have no idea where you're going. You could trip over an uneven piece of ice at any second and then we'll both fall… oh god, we're going to fall!"

"Heather!" Justin shouts, drawing curious glances from some of the skaters. "Can we please speed up, just a little?"

"Okay," Heather whispers, tightening her grip on Justin's hands as Justin increases his speed. "Can you do that turn thingy that the kid did?"

"Yes, it's one of the easiest jumps you can do in figure skating," Justin says, rolling his eyes off Heather's incredulous look. "I competed, okay? Up until high school."

"I had no idea!" Heather says her face lighting up. "You know what? After this lap, I'll go sit down again and you can show off until…"

"You're not getting off this rink until you are skating on your own," Justin says, shaking his head. "You can do this. You're Heather Wilson. You can do anything."

"Anything that doesn't involve the swooshing blades of death," Heather grumbles. Justin lets out a snort and speeds up, pulling Heather along. They complete a lap of the rink and Heather exhales with relief.

"Okay, now we're going to skate side-by-side," Justin says, letting go of Heather's right hand. "Is that okay?" Heather nods quickly. "Just remember that at the end of this, we get to go snuggle in bed until we get warm again. Now, right foot first."

In silence, they make their way around the outside of the rink.

"You promised me hot chocolate," Heather says, after half a lap with no stumbles.

"Hot chocolate then snuggles," Justin concedes, smiling down at his girlfriend. "Thanks for coming with me. I haven't skated in a couple of years."

"I'm sorry for freaking out so much," Heather says with an embarrassed smile. "It's actually pretty easy… and kinda romantic. I guess."

"Well, yeah. I guess," the model chuckles and gives Heather's hand a squeeze. The pair complete another couple of laps, going slightly faster each time until Heather feels confident enough to let go of Justin's hand.

Five seconds pass before she grabs at Justin, glancing around wildly when she notices that Justin isn't in her immediate vicinity.

"Justin?" Heather's head darts back and forth, unable to spot Justin's bright red woolly beanie amongst the crowd. The Asian's legs tense up and she tries to skate towards the barrier but trips. A few seconds of total panic follow as her legs take on a mind of their own and she skids around the ice, hands flying out to grab at nothing.

As she tumbles towards the ice, a pair of arms circle her waist and a voice whispers in her ear.

"I've got you."

After she regained her balance, Heather twists round to glare at her boyfriend who is still holding tightly to her.

"That wasn't funny, Justin. I was falling!"

"But I caught you," Justin says, pushing Heather backwards to the barrier. "I told you I would and I did."

"It was still mean," Heather pouts, trying to break out of Justin's embrace. The Hawaiian holds on securely though, ducking his head down to press a kiss against Heather's lips. The Queen Bee sighed, "Mean."

"I'm sorry," Justin whispers, lips now ghosting over Heather's; the Queen Bee's eyes closed, "Won't happen again."

"Good," Heather's voice is barely a whisper as the gap between their head disappears and they begin to kiss.

"Am I forgiven?" Justin asks, resting his forehead against Heather's. He nibbles softly on Heather's bottom lip as his body presses flush against hers.

"Mmhmm," Heather whimpers.

"Great, let's go," Justin says, taking Heather's hands again and guiding her to the gap in the barrier. "Oh wait!"

Leaving Heather next to the benches, Justin jumps back onto the ice and quickly skates a couple of laps before executing a perfect double toe loop and a single axel. Heather's jaw drops as Justin skates back to her.

"What?" Justin asks, grinning at his momentarily speechless girlfriend.

"Show-off!"


End file.
